


"Forever and Always"

by tonkatsupls



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Genre: Complete, During Canon, Gen, Journey into the Center of Ephraim's mind aka this is really just Ephraim thinking, M/M, Pretty angsty in that it's about Ephraim thinking of Lyon and his friend's role in the war, Spoiler warning in case anyone doesn't want to be spoiled on Sacred Stones, This is really me writing canon scenes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-01
Packaged: 2019-11-07 08:13:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17956880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonkatsupls/pseuds/tonkatsupls
Summary: Lyon wasn't a monster.A musing I did for a roleplaying group that I felt could stand on its own. References Chapters 9, 14, 17, 18, 19, and a little bit of the final chapter of the game. Basically a rewritten version of Chapter 19.





	"Forever and Always"

Lyon wasn't a monster.

At the wake of their battle at Fort Rigwald, Ephraim had scoffed at the soldier's words. Lyon, being the one who instigated the war? Preposterous. The same man who crumpled under the weight of a lance, the same man who studied the Stones tirelessly to find out a way to harness its strength for the good of the people, the man who only wished to pursue peace... Why, Ephraim could only assume that Lyon had been forced into the war to even entertain the idea that Lyon had some hand in its making.

Ah, but he could hardly blame Seth for his misgivings, loathe as he was to hear the suspicion the Renaisian knight cast on his dearest friends. "It won't happen," Ephraim had said. General Duessel was his teacher, an honest and true man through and through, and sure enough, he eventually joined their side to save the country he loved most. He was not their enemy. Surely Lyon was the same.

_“I understand your concerns. If worse comes to worst and steel is drawn, I will not hesitate. I’ll fight and kill anyone who thinks to oppose me. Are you satisfied, Seth?”_

Words spoken with an edge of irritation, but one that Ephraim knew he could follow through irregardless. Like it or not, he was the king of Renais. He could not afford to show weakness, especially not in a time such as this, when everything he and his people knew were being turned inside and out, when their closest ally became their most dangerous foe.

But Lyon was no monster. That much Ephraim could believe in. So he swore to those words, fully capable but not fully committing to the act itself.

 

* * *

  
Sorcery.

That was the only conclusion Ephraim could come to at the sight of Vigarde's corpse disintegrating into ash. He had figured Vigarde to be a madman, but nothing could have prepared him for Vigarde to be little more than just a shell of a man, one so easily cast in the wind.

He needed answers. And he got them.

Ephraim shook at the words that left his friend's lips. Was Lyon taunting him? What manner of madness could be at play for Lyon to call his father useless, to claim that he had been planning this war his entire life, to rub into Ephraim's face his father's death?

 _“Lyon! No more insults to my_ father, _or I may forget myself!”_

Though it had taken everything in him to not strike Lyon where he stood, even then he was unwilling to take up arms against his oldest friend. Lyon was no monster. Even if he claimed that he had murdered their father, something had to be amiss for him to do so. Lyon would never do such a thing. He could hardly best Ephraim, or even Eirika, in combat. Even if he had the power, Lyon didn't have the heart to kill. He simply couldn't have been in his right mind.

And Ephraim was right. Knoll had stated that it was as if Lyon had been transformed. That had to be it, didn't it?

Ephraim could hardly ponder on that possibility as other matters were pressed onto him, most importantly the danger his sister was in. He would get to the bottom of this eventually. For now, he simply needed to rush to Eirika's aid. 

 

* * *

  
_"You're not Lyon."_

Ephraim kept his lance close to his side as he held Eirika back, his eyes narrowed at the figure before. The man's mouth curled up into a sneer, poison dripping out from its depths.

The Demon King. Of course it was he who possessed his friend's body. Lyon wouldn't say half the things he was saying now. He wouldn't ask Ephraim to bend the knee before him. They had always been equals, had always stood together, had always been friends. Lyon would never betray them.

 _“Where’s Lyon? What have you done with our friend?!"_ Ephraim brought his horse to a halt, his fingertips digging into the palm of his hand from where they wrapped around his lance. _"ANSWER ME!”_

 _“Heh heh… What a splendid fool you make."_ Though the Demon King's voice boomed, it still sounded so distant, as if he was addressing an ant at his foot. _"Shall I dress you in a jester’s cap? Shall we watch you jape in my demon’s court? Lyon is dead. I devoured him. Can you not understand?”_

_“Monster!”_

That's right, the Demon King was the monster. He was the one to blame for all this. He was the one who took hold of Lyon's body, had forced his friend to do all those terrible things. Lyon was not-  
  
_No, no, no, no._

Ephraim turned to the side, feeling as if his head was moving on his own. He stared at the woman before him, her teal hair sparking something in the abyss of his mind. _"...Is that you, Eirika?"_ He blinked, his next words tumbling out of him automatically. _"Don't worry, it's nothing."_

Eirika stepped forward, her eyes round as stone. _"B-but…you’re so pale. What happened?”_

Was he pale? ... No, that can't be right. He was always outside, out under the warmth of the sun... If anything, Lyon was rather pale from staying indoors all day, hidden under the library or under the sheets of his bed. There were more times than Ephraim could count in which he had to convince Lyon to take a break, to join him and Eirika on a nice trip to town.

Lyon...

The scene appeared so quickly, so easily in his mind. Lyon, hunched over a book that seemed to weigh as much as the mage himself, a hand reaching up to tuck a violet strand behind his ear, his eyes flickering back and forth as he wordlessly mouthed what he was reading, his form enveloped by the light that filtered through the window... Could he really be someone so consumed by darkness? He couldn't be. Not with eyes that sparkled with a lavender light each time Ephraim grumbled about his studies, not with a laugh that rivaled the softness of cushions... He just couldn't be.  
  
"Come on, Ephraim, cheer up."

Ephraim lifts his head up slowly towards the second princess of Frelia, Tana's face scrunched up in concern. "What are you talking about, Tana? There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m always like this."

His words must truly ring hollow, for Tana's blue hair bounces as she shakes her head with fervor. "That’s not true. I’ve never seen you look so sad as you do right now. If you’re depressed, I’m sure my brother would worry… And I…" She averts her gaze. "Well, I…"

Tana truly is a kind girl, for her to worry so. Even though they had not particularly talked much before the war, Ephraim always did consider her to be a friend... After all, the twins knew the Frelian royalty since their youth. They were friends, and Renais always did have good relations with Frelia, didn't it?

Didn't it?

Ephraim casts his gaze aside, his eyes landing on the foot of the bed. "…… Tana. You’re the princess of Frelia. Perhaps it’s unwise of you to be so friendly to Eirika and me. After all, alliances aside, our two countries’ needs may differ." He puts his arms up on his knees, rubbing the back of his hand with the other, his voice growing distant. "Who knows what the future holds? Those ties could snap in an instant…"  
  
"No! Don’t say that!"

Ephraim snaps his head back up at her, surprised at the emotion that wraps around her voice. "And why not?"

Tana blinks, her clear blue eyes watering. "You and Eirika are both my friends. We come from different countries, it’s true, but…but… No matter what happens, the friendship I feel for you will never change!"

Ephraim opens his mouth, only to close it again. A scene plays in his mind, of a figure clad in familiar robes against a backdrop of stones.

_"What if Renais and Grado went to war? What if we were forced to fight?”_

_"Don’t be ridiculous. That would never happen.”_

_The mage paused, his eyes searching as Ephraim met his gaze. "If… If it did… We’d still be friends, wouldn’t we?"_

Ephraim gets up from his seat, apologizing to Tana for the tears that he had brought to her eyes. How could he have been such a fool? Tana was right, of course.

_"Lyon is..."_

Ephraim walks to where Siegmund is propped on the wall, the lance the clearest sign of the progress he had made during the war, of how much he had changed. He picks up the lance, its weight familiar in his hands, as he makes his way towards the door.

 _Ephraim blinked at Eirika, his sister a stark contrast to the magma and_ ashened _rocks around them. "Lyon's my friend."_

Even in his addled state of mind back then, Ephraim knew the truth. Even in his youth, Ephraim knew of the one fact that would never change.

Lyon is no monster. Lyon is his friend.

_"Forever and always."_

And Ephraim is his.


End file.
